The present invention relates generally to the field of secure website access, and more particularly to access, initiated by a service provider, to a high value transaction using an additional authentication.
Many websites available today on the World Wide Web (W3) are available to anyone and require no credentials to access. Other websites may require some form of credentials (e.g., a user identification, or id, and password) to be submitted by a user in order to gain access to the website. Other “high value” websites, such as a financial institution or a medical office, or transactions (e.g., a money transfer) at a specific website may require credentials beyond the user id and password.
Companies that utilize a Federated Single Sign-On (FSSO) technology provide users with a seamless methodology for accessing member websites. With a “federated” identity, the electronic identity and attributes of a user are linked together and stored across multiple, distinct identity management systems. FSSO systems allow a single user authentication process (e.g., a user id and password) across a federated system of multiple companies, organizations, and Information Technology (IT) systems.